As a professional voice talent, I’ve been blessed with a very durable voice. This might be the reason I enjoy long-form narrations so much. But, while reading Kara Edwards’ recent blog post about her need to adopt complete silence for several days so that she could recover full use of her voice; I am reminded that I’ve had to learn a similar lesson.
The key moment when I learned my lesson took place a few years ago while I was in Pittsburgh on a business trip. I was sitting in my hotel room after a morning of meetings. I felt really tired and thought, briefly, about taking a nap. But, because there were a couple of people I really wanted to see while I was in town, I decided to skip the nap and push on. Big mistake. Within two hours, my voice was almost completely gone and by the following morning I couldn’t even croak. And it was more than 2 weeks later before I was able to get back to work.
Since then, when ever I feel that strong need for a nap, I’ve make it a policy to find a way to get some rest. And thankfully while I have had a sore throat or scratchy throat a few times, I’ve not completely lost my voice again since.
What’s the moral of this story? Take care of your instrument.
Hey Bob!
Thanks for the link to Kara’s post!
BTW: I LOVE naps! 🙂
Peace!
Liz
Liz,
You’re welcome. And, obviously, I don’t just love naps, I take them.
Be well,
Bob
Bob-
I hate having to learn things the hard way, but it certainly helps the lesson stick! The good news is that I’ve been invited back to Animazement again next year…the better news is that it’s moving to a brand new hotel that will be dust free! Woohoo! I’m back in the studio today cranking away, so those few days of silence paid off!
Kara
Kara,
I’m so glad to know you’re doing well. And I’m sure your fans will be thrilled to know that you’ll be back again next year. Maybe next summer I can plan a trip to Raleigh around the same time and we can arrange a somewhat larger group of us as a get-together?
Be well,
Bob
This is probably a good spot to mention my new podcast series on http://www.voiceoverXtra.com Just look on the homepage. Or, if needed, write “zoller” in the box on upper left homepage to locate my articles and also podcasts. I was a voice therapy doctoral student for three years, chose not to become licensed, obviously, it is not my “thing,” but my courses did inform and elucidate and now I am pleased to share my information on the injured and the healthy voice and how to keep it that way. Hope you all will take a listen.
Bettye,
Thank you for your many contributions to the voiceover world, including your podcasts at VoiceOverXtra.
Be well,
Bob